The Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities is committed to ensuring quality services, serving as the single point of entry into the developmental disabilities services system.

Services

FLEXIBLE FAMILY FUND: Flexible Family Fund provides a monthly stipend to families of eligible children with severe or profound developmental disabilities from birth to age 18. Funds are intended to help families meet the extraordinary costs associated with maintaining their child in the home. Stipends are awarded to eligible children on a first come, first serve basis.INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY SUPPORT: This program provides resources to people with developmental disabilities to allow them to live in their own homes or with their families in their own communities. Requests are prioritized based upon level and immediacy of need. Individual and Family Support services include, but are not limited: respite care, personal assistance services, specialized clothing, dental and medical services not covered by other sources, specialized equipment and services such as communications services, crisis intervention, and family education. AAHSD administers the program through state general funds to provide supports that are not available from any other sources. The availability of funding for supports is contingent on the availability of funding from state general funds.

SUPPORT COORDINATION: AAHSD Community Support Professionals may provide support coordination services to individuals and their families by:

Providing information about supports and services available, through AAHSD and other community services;

Making applicable referrals to other community services;

Assessing the need for supports and services and developing an individualized Plan of Support which identifies formal and natural supports

Providing ongoing coordination and monitoring of the person’s support plan.

SUPPORTED LIVING: Supported Living services are intended to assist a person in the performance of daily living skills. The person’s needs are identified through the Person-Centered Planning Process and include, but are not limited to, training/assistance in the performance of daily living skills.

SCHOOL TRANSITION SERVICES: Information and referral for individuals who are transitioning from school to work. RESIDENTIAL: Intermediate Care Facilities for people with Developmental Disabilities (ICF/DD) provide a broad range of residential services such as community homes, group homes, small or large institutions. AAHSD is the Single Point of Entry for all requests for ICF/DD placement (public and private) in the region. (OCDD operates one public supports and services center which is a large facility).

EARLY STEPS: Provides services to families with infants and toddlers aged birth to three years (36 months) who have a medical condition likely to result in a developmental delay, or who have developmental delays. Children with delays in cognitive, motor, vision, hearing, communication, social-emotional or adaptive development may be eligible for services. These services are designed to improve the family’s capacity to enhance their child’s development and improve the natural environment such as the child’s home, child care or any other community setting typical for children aged birth to 3 years (36 months). Anyone can make an Early Steps referral by contacting the System Point of Entry, which for the Region 4 service area is 1-866-494-8900, or, 337-359-8748. ENTRY: AAHSD serves as the Single Point of Entry for people with developmental disabilities who are seeking supports or services through Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals. It is our intention to make the application process friendly, informative, and focused on meeting your needs and desires. To apply for entry into the system or to get additional information regarding developmental disabilities services, please contact AAHSD.

WAIVERS: Home and Community-Based Services Waiver programs are based on federal criteria which allow services to be provided in a home or community-based setting for the recipient who would otherwise require institutional care. Due to the demand for these services, there is a Developmental Disability (DD) Request for Services Registry (RFSR) that lists individuals who meet the Louisiana definition for developmental disability and their request date. This waiver is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. AAHSD manages four Waiver programs:

Children’s Choice:

Support Coordination;

Family Support services provided directly to the child;

Center-Based Respite provided on a short-term basis to children unable to care for themselves so that their caregivers can have some relief;

Environmental Accessibility Adaptations: physical adaptations to the home or vehicle;

Family Training: training and education services provided to the participant’s family by a professional organization.

New Opportunities Waiver (NOW): Residential support, respite, community integration and development, work-related supports, habilitation, environmental modifications and specialized equipment, professional services. Services are based on the need of the individual and are developed using a person-centered process. NOW services are provided as a supplement to regular Medicaid State Plan services and natural supports. NOW should not be viewed as a lifetime entitlement or a fixed annual allocation. The NOW is offered to people on the Registry on a first-come, first-served basis, with the exception of people who qualify for the NOW through emergency placement or other designated placements.

Supports Waiver: Individualized vocational services to people 18 years and older.

Residential Options Waiver: Offers people of all ages services designed to support them to move from ICFs/DD and nursing facilities to community-based settings, and to serve as an alternative to institutionalization. For more information regarding what these waivers provide, please refer to the OCDD Medicaid Waiver site by going to http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/136/n/138.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT TEAM (CST): Provides supports and services to individuals who need intensive treatment intervention allowing them to remain in their community living setting. They provide:

Initial and ongoing assessment;

Psychiatric services;

Family support and education;

Support Coordination and any other services critical to an individual’s ability to live successfully in the community;

The team consists of a psychologist, social worker, nurse, contract psychiatrist, and services are provided on a 24 hr / 7 day a week basis. Services are provided in the community rather than an office-based practice and combines skill teaching with clinical management.

How Do I Apply for Services?

Acadiana Area Human Services District – Developmental Disabilities (AAHSD-DD) serves as the Single Point of Entry for people with developmental disabilities who are seeking supports or services through Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals. It is our intention to make the application process friendly, informative, and focused on meeting your needs and desires. To apply for entry into the system or to get additional information regarding developmental disabilities services, please contact the AAHSD and staff will assist. In order to qualify for supports and services, you must have developmental disability as defined by the Developmental Disability Law, Louisiana Revised Statutes 28:451-455. A developmental disability means either:

1. A severe, chronic disability of a person that:

Is attributable to an intellectual or physical impairment or combination of intellectual and physical impairments.

Is manifested before the person reaches age twenty-two.

Is likely to continue indefinitely.

Results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity:

Reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services which are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated, or

2. A substantial developmental delay or specific congenital or acquired condition in a person from birth through age nine which, without services and support, has a high probability of resulting in those criteria listed in #1 above later in life that may be considered to be a developmental disability